Fused electrical connector



April 28, 1953 J. F. CONRAD 2,636,956 FUSEdELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed Oct. 51, 1950 IN VE/V 7'02. JOHN F: CONR s 7- TOE W Y3 Patented Apr. 28, 1953 2,636,956 FUSED ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR John F. Conrad, Ebensburg, Pa., assignor to Deltron Electric Products, Inc., Ebensburg, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 31, 1950, Serial No. 193,176

2 Claims.

This invention relates to electrical connectors that are especially suitable for use in connection with taps for trolley wires or the like, and embodies improvements over the trolley wire tap shown in my Patent No. 2,475,352, issued July 5, 1949.

An important object of my invention is the provision of an electrical connector of the cartridge fused type, wherein the use is of such form as to facilitate mounting thereof in a tubular holder and its connection to conductors at the ends of the holder.

Another object of my invention is to provide a tap having an improved arrangement of insulating tubular holder for trolley tap connectors of the fused type, wherein the hand guard on the fuse holder is of the flexible disc type and is firmly and releasably held in place in a simplified and improved manner.

Still another object of my invention is to provide improved forms of mechanical and electrical connections between a cartridge type fuse and an electrical cable at one end and a trolley wireengaging hook at its other end.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a connector of the trolley tap type, and Figs. 2 and 3 are inner end views of the two fuse socket members of Fig. 1.

The casing or holder 4 is of insulating material such as fibrous reinforced resin and has an in sulating closure disc 5 pressed into one end thereof through which a sheathed cable 6 extends. A knurled block 1 of aluminum has tight fit in the casing 4, and the bared wires of the cable are clamped in a socket member 8, by set screws 9.

A fuse cartridge I filled with an inert powder contains fusible links or strips l I. The fuse links H at one end are clamped by a screw 12. The block 8 is slightly recessed at its inner end to form a socket for the cartridge shell 10.

At the other end of the casing, the cartridge shell fits into a socket in a block l3 and the fuse link or links are held by a screw 14. The block I3 has an enlarged threaded portion at I that screws into a brass bushing l6 which is knurled and has tight fit with the casing 4. The block l3 has a reduced interiorly and exteriorlythreaded extension I! into which a trolley tap hook IB is threaded. The exterior thread of the extension I! has a clamping collar I9 which is screwed into place to grip a soft rubber guard disc 20. A toothed metal ring 2| is interposed between the clamping collar and the disc 20, The

(Cl. ZOO-115.5)

teeth 22 on the ring 2! are forced into the rubber guard to prevent it being radially stretched or distorted out of its seat on the member 15.

The powder is retained in the cartridge 4 by bushings 24 and 25 of soft rubber or the like. Upon rupture of the fuse link or links II, the pressure of the generated gases will flex the rings 24-25, and the gases will escape through open ends of a slot 27, in the socket 8 and the ends of a slot 28 of the socket l3. There is considerable expansion space within the holder 4 but excess pressures therein will escape along grooves 29 formed in one of the meeting surfaces of the members 1 and 8 and thence through the closure disc 5, past the cable 6 which has loose fit in the disc. The outer end of the member 8 and the seating surfaces of the block I are respectively of convex and concave form so that the cable and the cartridge H) are guided into and kept in axial alinement with the holder 4.

When a fuse is disrupted, replacements may be made by holding the rubber guard disc 20 with one hand and unscrewing holder 4 with the other, the cable 6 is then shoved into the holder for a distance sufiicient to expose the socket members and the cartridge, whereupon the screws l2 and 14 are loosened to permit withdrawal of the cartridge 10 and the insertion of another cartridge in position to have its fuse links H clamped by the screws I2 and I4. The socket members are then moved back into the case and fastened there, as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the device can be used simply as a fused joint or connection in a cable line, as in my application Serial No. 192,259, filed October 26, 1950, now Patent No. 2,614,190, dated October 14, 1952, by substituting another block 1 and the socket member 8 for the socket member 15, at the other end of the holder 4.

I claim as my invention:

1. An electrical connector comprising a holder having socket members removably supported in its opposite ends, means for Connecting the socket members at their outer ends to electrical conductors, the sockets having slots in their inner ends, and being provided with lateral vent openings, a fuse cartridge whose ends extend into the sockets and having a fuse link extending therethrough and into the said slots, clamping screws extending through a wall of each recess, for securing the link ends tightly against the opposite walls of the respective slots, and flexible pressure-relief members in the ends of the cartridge, for exhaust of gases into the sockets.

ing therethrough and into the said slots, and

means carried by the sockets for releasably connecting the ends of the fuse link to the respective socket members, the fuse cartridges being closed at their ends by flexible members that will yield 4 under internal pressures, for exhaust of gases to the slots.

JOHN F. CONRAD.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,679,142 Wyman July 31, 1928 1,947,503 Shunk Feb; 20, 1934 2,172,226 Smith Sept. 5, 1939 2,419,152 Mosebach Apr. 15, 1947 2,475,352 Conrad July 5, 1949 2,532,454

Kane Dec. 5, 1950 

